One evening, Adam’s mum pops out for the milk and doesn’t come back, launching a frantic nationwide search. Yet after weeks with no leads, the television crews drift away, the police start asking hairy questions, and Adam’s dad starts seeing someone else. Adam’s life is falling apart. But then he meets Skye, who it seems has misplaced a parent too, and things start to look up. That is, until a body is found…

Lee Murray is a full-time writer and editor with masters degrees in science and management. Lee wrote Misplaced after a friend, Florence, went missing from her home in France in 2003. Sadly, Florence is still missing. Lee lives in Tauranga, New Zealand with her husband and their two teenaged children.

The make-up girl has a silver nose ring and hair streaked psychedelic orange.

‘Almost done,’ the girl says, puffing his face with powder. She has bony knuckles like cauliflower stalks. Holding his breath, Adam wills himself not to fidget as she deals to the fresh eruption of zits on his forehead. Right now, a few spots are the least of his worries.

‘There, that’s put some colour in your cheeks.’

Adam opens his eyes, stares at the mirror, and doesn’t say anything. Even with the powder, he’s as pale as Colgate. There’s fuzz on his chin and dark bags under his eyes. He looks like a druggie, a metal-head on a bender.

The Powder Puff girl selects a lipstick from a tray which, held vertically, could be a Connect Four player board.

Resolution Red.

With a practised twist, she pushes up the tube.

‘Pucker up, now,’ she coaxes. ‘Give me your sexiest pout, the one the girls love.’ But Adam clamps his mouth shut, pursing his lips in a thin line, and shakes his head. No lipstick. This isn’t an audition for American Idol.

‘But…’ The Powder Puff girl puts on a pout of her own.

‘No!’ he says, with more vehemence than is warranted.

The girl shrugs, rolls her eyes. ‘Whatever.’ She packs up her Connect Four box and leaves him there.

‘One minute, people!’ the floor manager screams. Through the scramble of movement, Adam is aware of Dad, shuffling about on the spot off to the side of the make-shift set, a man out of his comfort zone. Six days a week, Dad’s natural habitat is Creighton Cars, the yard that he runs. On Sundays he mows the lawns, then slumps in front of the telly, cold beer in hand, watching whatever sport happens to be on.

Adam notices that Dad’s tugging his earlobe again. Dad always does that when he’s out of sorts. It’s a good thing the clients haven’t cottoned on or he’d never sell any cars. Lately, he’s pulled that lobe so often it’s a wonder he isn’t mistaken for a tribesman from Borneo.

Not that Adam isn’t uncomfortable. He wishes it hadn’t come to this. The thing is, the news people insisted a public appeal could make a difference. They said it’d made a difference in other cases. But Dad couldn’t face it, so Adam had agreed to do it instead. At this point Adam would agree to car surf down Auckland’s Queen Street in the wrong direction at rush hour, if there was a chance it would make a difference.

Anyway, it’s better Adam does it because, being younger than Dad, he’ll make the biggest impact, apparently. Adam knows this because he heard the camera crew chatting. They’d started off saying how Adam and Dad’s story was made for television, the kind of story that won awards. Then one of them said it was a bummer that Adam was seventeen. That’s when the guy holding the boom said, in these kind of cases, nothing tops a 7-year-old girl, especially a little blondie with dimples.

Maybe this is how his life will be from now on. People shushing each other or looking away. Feeling sorry for him.

‘Adam? We’re ready for you.’ The floor manager speaks quietly. Adam’s grateful. Right now he feels like the entire cast of Lost, like something awful is about to happen. Maybe it already has, maybe he’s living in a parallel universe and none of this is real, but whatever it is, Adam doesn’t get any of it. He gets to his feet and allows the floor manager to direct him to the lectern. Placing both hands on either side of the lectern, Adam steadies himself.

This has to work. Please, let this work. Please.

But Adam knows that even if it does, nothing will be quite the same.

‘In 5… 4… 3…’ The floor manager holds up two fingers, then one…

The microphone makes a soft buzz as it’s switched on. Adam pauses, marvelling at how they actually do that, the holding up the finger thing.

Oh shit.

He’s on national television. His face spreads with warmth: the nasty-but-nice feeling you get when you pee in the sea. Great. His face will be red and blotchy now. He inhales deeply.

Swallows.

Stares directly at the camera lens.

What if this is the last time he ever speaks to her?

‘Mum… Mum, if you’re out there, if you can hear this, please, please call and let us know you’re all right. Whatever’s wrong, Dad and me, we’re worried. Please, Mum, just come home…’

C. Moore Catholic High School’s 10-year reunion was organized as many reunions are – to reminisce, to see who had made a success of their lives, and in truth, to gossip on who had not. But this party in the secluded, 1890’s mansion once owned by a long dead, paranoid WWII Veteran, was to become anything but typical.

After a horrible accident within the mansion, the alumni realize they are locked in and fighting for their lives. Instantly, tempers rise and fingers are pointed as the number of living alumni begins to rapidly decrease. Theories range from there being a murderer in the midst to the mansion possibly being haunted by the previous owner’s ghost.

Who or what is responsible and will anyone make it out alive?

Find out for yourself in this combination of a mystery and psychological thriller, with a twisted ending!

A.A. Pencil

A. A. Pencil works part time as a school nurse at an all-boys Catholic school in New York City. As a Lupus survivor, she uses writing as a significant part of her therapy and you will see influences from classical writers such as Agatha Christie and Edgar Alan Poe in her work. When not working or writing, she enjoys cooking, shopping and walking. She has sponsored a child in Mexico for over three years with a children’s organization. She currently lives in a borough of New York City with her extended family who are her greatest supporters.

To celebrate the release of AA Pencil’s debut novel “The Reunion” – During the months of November & December – 1% of the gross sales of all novels with Lavish Publishing, LLC will be donated to the Lupus Foundation of America. The donation will be made in May 2014 in honor of AA Pencil and National Lupus Awareness Month.

Misplaced by Lee MurrayPublication date: December 1st 2013Genres: Mystery, New Adultdesigned by RomillyBrown

~Synopsis~

Dream cars have no registration plate…

One evening, Adam’s mum pops out for the milk and doesn’t come back, launching a frantic nationwide search. Yet after weeks with no leads, the television crews drift away, the police start asking hairy questions, and Adam’s dad starts seeing someone else. Adam’s life is falling apart. But then he meets Skye, who it seems has misplaced a parent too, and things start to look up. That is, until a body is found…

Contact Info for Lee Murray

About Lee

Lee Murray writes fiction for adults and children, for which she has been lucky enough to win some literary prizes.Her novels include A Dash of Reality, Battle of the Birds, and Misplaced. Lee lives with her family in New Zealand.

Cindy M. Hogan graduated with a secondary education teaching degree and enjoys spending time with unpredictable teenagers.More than anything she loves the time she has with her own teenage daughters and wishes she could freeze them at this fun age.If she’s not reading or writing, you’ll find her snuggled up with the love of her life watching a great movie or planning their next party. She loves to bake, garden and be outdoors doing a myriad of activities.